Ten O'Clock Tech: Franklin Launches E-Book Reader

Being a student means carrying a heavy load. Visit a college campus or high school and you'll see armies of backpack-laden students each lugging about their own personal libraries and probably causing long-term back problems in the process.

As electronic book readers make their way to market, students should be considered a priority target for device makers and electronic publishers alike. With such a captive market--remember college students are required to buy huge textbooks that cost $100 or more--the devices will, like the Internet and PC before it, become a necessity of the next generation of educated consumers.

And just such a device is about to make its debut at the upcoming Comdex trade show in Las Vegas.
Franklin Electronic Publishers
will be showing off its eBookman reader. The device comes in three colors and boasts a 200 by 240 pixel screen. Designed to download books, and audio books in the form of MP3 audio files, it also works with
Microsoft's
Outlook e-mail program. Prices in its three models range from $129 to $229. The higher-priced the model, the more memory it holds.

The trick, as anyone who's been following the nascent e-publishing market knows, is content. While the device may be cool and useful, you've got to have some compelling or necessary content to put on it, as well as a compelling reason to buy the electronic version of the text over the traditional book. That's why heavy college textbooks and reference works should be a natural.

Another case is professionals like doctors and lawyers who often have to lug around huge reference works or professional journals in the course of a workday. Franklin said in September it will be selling the electronic version of a physician's desk reference work.

It's an uncertain market, but Franklin seems ready to make a go of it. In the fiscal year ended March 31, it reported a $2.6 million profit on revenue of $96.4 million and in the quarter since, reported a $433,000 profit.*

And the competition is shaping up. In January,
Gemstar International
acquired manufacturers NuvoMedia and Softbook, both of which make their own electronic book readers. This new publishing battle is just beginning.

* A previous version of this story mischaracterized Franklin's earnings for the last two quarters.